Preformed fiberglass swimming pools offer many advantages over vinyl liner and in-situ formed shotcrete or concrete walled swimming pools. Fiberglass pool bodies may be quickly and inexpensively formed and require considerably less effort to put into the ground. Recently, there has been increased interest in swimming pools having a preformed shallow entry area beginning flush with the outside ground at the pool edge and extending into the pool at a shallow angle, such that a swimmer may walk into the pool enjoying a slow and steady entry into the pool as the water gradually becomes deeper. Such an entry area is commonly known as a ‘beach entry’. Beach entries are relatively easy to form in concrete pools, as the concrete may be poured and spread to yield a shallow angled beach entry floor extending from the outer edge or lip of the pool into the main pool body. However, such a beach entry area has been elusive in preformed pools, as the lip/flange has to perform other functions, such as engaging poured concrete forming an upper sidewalk around the pool that partially anchors the fiberglass pool in place, engaging and directing backfill around the exterior of the preformed pool body, providing structure to the pool body and/or providing a level surface for orienting the pool body in the excavation.
Thus, there remains a need for a method and apparatus that would allow easy installation of a preformed fiberglass swimming pool body with a preformed unitary, or after-market, accessory allowing beach entry. The present novel technology addresses this need.